Financial Services briefs

Westpac
will launch a campaign in Sydney today designed to alert millions of workers to the possibilities of boosting their superannuation savings. In a sign of federal government support, Assistant Treasurer
Bill Shorten
will attend the event.

Bianca Hartge-Hazelman

Aberdeen Asset Management has announced a restructure of its Australian Equities team. Robert Penaloza will take over as head of the team from July, replacing Mark Daniels, who will stay on as investment director. Mr Daniels will relinquish the day-to-day responsibilities to focus on investment management.

Jane Searle

Credit Suisse said Will Britten will join as a managing director and head of asset management in Australia. Mr Britten will be based in Sydney. He was recently chief executive of BlackRock Australia, where he oversaw all business activities following its acquisition of Barclays Global Investors.Staff reporter

The price war between the big banks has not resulted in a rush by home loan customers to switch lenders, a survey has found. Loan Market chief operating officer Dean Rushton said a national survey of the company’s mortgage brokers found 44 per cent had not reported any significant change in refinancing settlements. Staff reporter

Health insurer
NIB
says it’s on track to achieve net pretax underwriting profit of $55 million to $58 million for the 2011 financial year. This represents a net underwriting margin of 5.4 per cent to 5.7 per cent with some potential for upside. The insurer maintained its 2011 health insurance business net policyholder growth guidance of 5.5 per cent to 6 per cent. Jane Searle

Macquarie Group
chief executive
Nicholas Moore
will be given 105,602 shares in the investment bank at a conversion price of $33.06 each, for his 2011 retained profit share. The $3.5 million worth of shares will vest over the next three to seven years.John Kehoe